Saws used in wood saw mills use guides to stabilize and insure cutting accuracy of the saw blade. The guides are as important to a saw mill as the saw. Guides are used by both circular and band saws. Precision is required to eliminate waste and to produce accurate dimensional cutting of the saw.
Several materials have been used as saw guides. A wood from South America, Lignum Vitae, has been used. This is a hard oily wood. A phenolic material using cotton and graphite has been used. Another material made of soft low temperature metals has been molded into guides. An asbestos material was used, but has been discontinued because of environmental reasons. Some ceramic materials have been tried, but they are too brittle and score the saw blades. All of these materials need to be improved on. Guides from these materials have not had the strength to withstand the wear of the saw blade and require frequent replacements.
Basic requirements for guides are that they must withstand wear, not create heat, not wear the saw blade, run with minimum or no lubrication, and be of a price that, when replaced, is not too costly. None or the prior art materials have all of these qualities.